And...

No but, you might could have some fun teaching someone the entire Braille
system. Did I say that?
"tanadashoes" wrote in message
m...
wrote:
Christina Websell wrote:

We blind-ish people will always stick together.
Those who have perfect sight do not have a clue - and even the kind
people who think they can imagine it cannot. Truly.
You have to have it to know what it's like.

That's certainly true. And nobody knows that better than someone who
once had normal sight and then lost it (or is in the process of losing
it). I think someone who was born with poor sight (or none) would have
just as much trouble explaining exactly what is missing, because they've
never known anything different. You may be aware that most people around
you can do a bunch of things you can't, and that the world is designed
for their abilities and not for yours. But can you really explain to
someone what it's *like* not to have sight, if you've never had it?

Joyce


Being an overly sensitive sort, I should have expected the dear little
darlings in my 6th grade class to tease me unmercifully when I finally got
a pair of glasses for my extreme nearsightedness. Instead I was so amazed
that I could see individual leaves on the trees outside the classroom that
I didn't even notice that my classmates were at it. The teasing stopped
in less than a day rather than lasting for weeks or months.

I have never been able to explain the wonder and amazement of watching the
play of sun and shadows over the individual leaves on the trees.

Pam S.

She is so right. I have heard him practically call someone a idiot with
such a pleasant sounding voice that they have no clue they have just been
told to ****off.
"Stormmee" wrote in message
...
i have always managed to keep it to myself, but the DH.... now understand,
he is err, reserved at his best... very polite and proper... but once in a
while he shocks and pleases me with an audable chunck of verbage that is
just too thrilling...

we were at a casino that has a family assistance room, so when i can i use
that because i know where everything is, and its generally cleaner than
the big ones... i am doing what needs doing, just after i clicked the door
locked, i hear this violent rattling of the knob... a shrill woman's
voice: honey, honey, do you need help? i can come in and help??? are you
ok in there all alone??? please respond dearie or i will go get scurity
to help you...

I think: dear god, please let security see her and take her away, must be
one too many adult beverages... I flush...

OH MY GOD!!!! are you ok!!!,

now DH evidentally had been girl watching or something and i hear the very
polite cultured voice of the DH with the barely noticable chicago accent
say: can i help you ma'am, the room is occupied...

shrill woman: yes she handicapped and i am sure needs help she went in
ther ALONE!!!

Soft DH with culured voice*which I can now tell is trying to not burst out
laughing* says: yes she has some diabilities, one of which is an
extremely short temper, which has been made worse by impending menopause,
and of course she is blind, but in the twenty plus years i have known her
wiping her a** has not been one of them...

dead slience until i came out of the room...

DH is leaning up agains the wall with his face almost smooched into it
trying to not laugh husterically... he said she got a look on her face
that was somewhere between horror at his bluntness, and even more horror
at the concept of actually entering the bathroom and being confronted with
what she might have been asked to do by a less able person...

and this is why he only has to make me laugh once a month, the funny
usually makes me gigglgle for at least that long, Lee
"tanadashoes" wrote in message
m...
Stormmee wrote:
no its a dammed either way, the ones who want to help and grab you get
offendd if you say no thanks, and the ones who know a blind person ask
before ever putting a hand on you... and besides my acid toungue is so
hard put to stay silent i often have all i can do to say things like:

no thanks, i have been taking a sh*t on my own for 45 years now, and
whle i anticipate needing wiped in a few years NOW is not that time and
YOU are not who i intend to pay to do it...

Lee



That is TOO funny. Thanks,

Pam S.

In ,
Stormmee typed:
yes you can explain most components of it, because you know there are
colors something you can't acess, and something i learned before i
lost all of mine, the biggest abuse of blind people in an every day
living sort of way is the fact that public restrooms MUST be
accessable for wheelchair people, but they don't do things like make
the paper rolls be in the same place in the stalls, not just restroom
to restroom but in different stalls in the same restroom. and the
towel racks/soap dispensers and hand dryers are everywhere at
differing hieights, its very easy to understand and explain to those
who can see how disconcerting and physically painful it is when you
can't find or run into the towel dispenser... Lee

Can appreciate where you are coming from.

Most toilets in shopping malls are internal, that is, have no windows.

And if I am with the Yowlet I usually use th disabled toilet if there's no
"parent's room" because he now refuses to come into the women's toilet with
me (where is he going to wait?), and I don't like the idea of him going into
the men's without supervision. (Its both a matter of wanting him to be safe
*and* not wanting him to get into mischeif).

So there I am, pants around the ankles, doing what I had to do, with Cary
poking and prodding at anything and everything, when all a sudden he flips
the switch for the lights.

It is now pitch black.

He immediately screams and freaks out.

I tell him to turn the lights back on, but its too late. He's too scared to
know where the light switch was.

Of course, there's a problem. My pants are around my ankles, I am in
desperate need for a good application of TP, I can't see a damn thing, and
my child - who I can't see - is hysterical.

There is literally *no* light. None. There was nothing for my eyes to get
adjusted to. It was black and it was going to stay black.

Mothers can do miracles when their kids are screaming in mortal fear. I
found him and held him straight away. I didn't trip over my pants and I
didn't knock into anything until I had him in my arms.

But then I had to find hte light switch with Cary clutching me in a death
grip, all the while with my ankles tied up in jeans and undies, my bare
arse in need of a good clean, and with the horrid knowledge that a) public
restrooms are not particularly clean at any point and b) I'm going to have
to do all of this by *feel*.

It was not a pleasant nor painless process, but I did manage to eventually
find the light switch, then calm Cary down, and then finish off what I had
started.

I dread to think what woudl have happened if there was a blackout and the
lights couldn't have been turned back on *and* I was genuinely physically
disabled. Not even an emergency light int here or those glow in the dark
stickers to point to the exit. The management to whom I complained were less
than sympathetic, all the could say was that I should have supervised my
child better, although I personally think they were in breach of some sort
of building regulation by not having emergency lighting or the glow in the
dark signs..

Needless to say, we don't shop there any more.

Yowie

Yowie wrote:

Can appreciate where you are coming from.

Most toilets in shopping malls are internal, that is, have no windows.

And if I am with the Yowlet I usually use th disabled toilet if there's no
"parent's room" because he now refuses to come into the women's toilet with
me (where is he going to wait?), and I don't like the idea of him going into
the men's without supervision. (Its both a matter of wanting him to be safe
*and* not wanting him to get into mischeif).

So there I am, pants around the ankles, doing what I had to do, with Cary
poking and prodding at anything and everything, when all a sudden he flips
the switch for the lights.

It is now pitch black.

He immediately screams and freaks out.

I tell him to turn the lights back on, but its too late. He's too scared to
know where the light switch was.

Of course, there's a problem. My pants are around my ankles, I am in
desperate need for a good application of TP, I can't see a damn thing, and
my child - who I can't see - is hysterical.

There is literally *no* light. None. There was nothing for my eyes to get
adjusted to. It was black and it was going to stay black.

Mothers can do miracles when their kids are screaming in mortal fear. I
found him and held him straight away. I didn't trip over my pants and I
didn't knock into anything until I had him in my arms.

But then I had to find hte light switch with Cary clutching me in a death
grip, all the while with my ankles tied up in jeans and undies, my bare
arse in need of a good clean, and with the horrid knowledge that a) public
restrooms are not particularly clean at any point and b) I'm going to have
to do all of this by *feel*.

It was not a pleasant nor painless process, but I did manage to eventually
find the light switch, then calm Cary down, and then finish off what I had
started.

I dread to think what woudl have happened if there was a blackout and the
lights couldn't have been turned back on *and* I was genuinely physically
disabled. Not even an emergency light int here or those glow in the dark
stickers to point to the exit. The management to whom I complained were less
than sympathetic, all the could say was that I should have supervised my
child better, although I personally think they were in breach of some sort
of building regulation by not having emergency lighting or the glow in the
dark signs..

Needless to say, we don't shop there any more.

Thanks for the hilarious story. You knew we would find this hilarious,
didn't you? I'm sure it wasn't a single bit funny at the time, but...
what an image!! (At least you can have the comfort of knowing that the
image was not visible for most of the time.)

management - what a jerk! Can't take even a reasonable suggestion,
but has to turn it back on you? Not very good at customer relations, are
they?

Suggestion: bring a small flashlight and keep it in your purse. Even
if you never go into that mall again, you might encounter a lightless
bathroom somewhere else.

Joyce

--
Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a good
many ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia.
-- Joseph Wood Krutch

wrote:
Yowie wrote:

Can appreciate where you are coming from.

Most toilets in shopping malls are internal, that is, have no
windows.

And if I am with the Yowlet I usually use th disabled toilet if
there's no "parent's room" because he now refuses to come into the
women's toilet with me (where is he going to wait?), and I don't
like the idea of him going into the men's without supervision. (Its
both a matter of wanting him to be safe *and* not wanting him to get
into mischeif).

So there I am, pants around the ankles, doing what I had to do, with
Cary poking and prodding at anything and everything, when all a
sudden he flips the switch for the lights.

It is now pitch black.

He immediately screams and freaks out.

I tell him to turn the lights back on, but its too late. He's too
scared to know where the light switch was.

Of course, there's a problem. My pants are around my ankles, I am in
desperate need for a good application of TP, I can't see a damn
thing, and my child - who I can't see - is hysterical.

There is literally *no* light. None. There was nothing for my eyes
to get adjusted to. It was black and it was going to stay black.

Mothers can do miracles when their kids are screaming in mortal
fear. I found him and held him straight away. I didn't trip over my
pants and I didn't knock into anything until I had him in my arms.

But then I had to find hte light switch with Cary clutching me in a
death grip, all the while with my ankles tied up in jeans and
undies, my bare arse in need of a good clean, and with the horrid
knowledge that a) public restrooms are not particularly clean at any
point and b) I'm going to have to do all of this by *feel*.

It was not a pleasant nor painless process, but I did manage to
eventually find the light switch, then calm Cary down, and then
finish off what I had started.

I dread to think what woudl have happened if there was a blackout
and the lights couldn't have been turned back on *and* I was
genuinely physically disabled. Not even an emergency light int here
or those glow in the dark stickers to point to the exit. The
management to whom I complained were less than sympathetic, all the
could say was that I should have supervised my child better,
although I personally think they were in breach of some sort of
building regulation by not having emergency lighting or the glow in
the dark signs..

Needless to say, we don't shop there any more.

Thanks for the hilarious story. You knew we would find this hilarious,
didn't you? I'm sure it wasn't a single bit funny at the time,
but... what an image!! (At least you can have the comfort of knowing
that the image was not visible for most of the time.)

management - what a jerk! Can't take even a reasonable suggestion,
but has to turn it back on you? Not very good at customer relations,
are they?

Suggestion: bring a small flashlight and keep it in your purse. Even
if you never go into that mall again, you might encounter a lightless
bathroom somewhere else.

Nah, I need a bat belt with all the tools of the motherhood trade. Wipes,
spare clothes, bandaids, drink, small toy (for distraction in boring
situations), spare clothes, tissues, kiddy tylenol, mobile phone, keys,
earplugs, emergency sewing kit, torch, screwdriver/nail file, sticky tape,
sunnies, etc etc

or, in other words, a giant and unfashionable tote bag where all that sort
of stuff along with a mysterious sock, some fluff covered candy, hair pins,
ex-tissues, small change, an old and out of fashion half melted lipstic, a
few tampons etc etc all sit in the bottom and jingle

Yowie

wrote:
Yowie wrote:

Can appreciate where you are coming from.

Most toilets in shopping malls are internal, that is, have no windows.

And if I am with the Yowlet I usually use th disabled toilet if there's no
"parent's room" because he now refuses to come into the women's toilet with
me (where is he going to wait?), and I don't like the idea of him going into
the men's without supervision. (Its both a matter of wanting him to be safe
*and* not wanting him to get into mischeif).

So there I am, pants around the ankles, doing what I had to do, with Cary
poking and prodding at anything and everything, when all a sudden he flips
the switch for the lights.

It is now pitch black.

He immediately screams and freaks out.

I tell him to turn the lights back on, but its too late. He's too scared to
know where the light switch was.

Of course, there's a problem. My pants are around my ankles, I am in
desperate need for a good application of TP, I can't see a damn thing, and
my child - who I can't see - is hysterical.

There is literally *no* light. None. There was nothing for my eyes to get
adjusted to. It was black and it was going to stay black.

Mothers can do miracles when their kids are screaming in mortal fear. I
found him and held him straight away. I didn't trip over my pants and I
didn't knock into anything until I had him in my arms.

But then I had to find hte light switch with Cary clutching me in a death
grip, all the while with my ankles tied up in jeans and undies, my bare
arse in need of a good clean, and with the horrid knowledge that a) public
restrooms are not particularly clean at any point and b) I'm going to have
to do all of this by *feel*.

It was not a pleasant nor painless process, but I did manage to eventually
find the light switch, then calm Cary down, and then finish off what I had
started.

I dread to think what woudl have happened if there was a blackout and the
lights couldn't have been turned back on *and* I was genuinely physically
disabled. Not even an emergency light int here or those glow in the dark
stickers to point to the exit. The management to whom I complained were less
than sympathetic, all the could say was that I should have supervised my
child better, although I personally think they were in breach of some sort
of building regulation by not having emergency lighting or the glow in the
dark signs..

Needless to say, we don't shop there any more.

Thanks for the hilarious story. You knew we would find this hilarious,
didn't you? I'm sure it wasn't a single bit funny at the time, but...
what an image!! (At least you can have the comfort of knowing that the
image was not visible for most of the time.)

management - what a jerk! Can't take even a reasonable suggestion,
but has to turn it back on you? Not very good at customer relations, are
they?

Suggestion: bring a small flashlight and keep it in your purse. Even
if you never go into that mall again, you might encounter a lightless
bathroom somewhere else.

Joyce


A small flashlight is a good suggestion. I have a good flashlight in
every room in the house and I also keep one with my portable phone. A
couple of years ago, I was in the back bath when the power went out. I
could not see a thing. In trying to get out to another room, I had a
hard time bumping into things and It was scary. From then one, handy
flashlights everywhere! MLB

"Yowie" wrote in message
...
In ,
Stormmee typed:
yes you can explain most components of it, because you know there
are
colors something you can't acess, and something i learned before
i
lost all of mine, the biggest abuse of blind people in an every
day
living sort of way is the fact that public restrooms MUST be
accessable for wheelchair people, but they don't do things like
make
the paper rolls be in the same place in the stalls, not just
restroom
to restroom but in different stalls in the same restroom. and the
towel racks/soap dispensers and hand dryers are everywhere at
differing hieights, its very easy to understand and explain to
those
who can see how disconcerting and physically painful it is when
you
can't find or run into the towel dispenser... Lee

Can appreciate where you are coming from.

Most toilets in shopping malls are internal, that is, have no
windows.

And if I am with the Yowlet I usually use th disabled toilet if
there's no "parent's room" because he now refuses to come into the
women's toilet with me (where is he going to wait?), and I don't
like the idea of him going into the men's without supervision.
(Its both a matter of wanting him to be safe *and* not wanting him
to get into mischeif).

So there I am, pants around the ankles, doing what I had to do,
with Cary poking and prodding at anything and everything, when all
a sudden he flips the switch for the lights.

It is now pitch black.

He immediately screams and freaks out.

I tell him to turn the lights back on, but its too late. He's too
scared to know where the light switch was.

Of course, there's a problem. My pants are around my ankles, I am
in desperate need for a good application of TP, I can't see a damn
thing, and my child - who I can't see - is hysterical.

There is literally *no* light. None. There was nothing for my eyes
to get adjusted to. It was black and it was going to stay black.

Mothers can do miracles when their kids are screaming in mortal
fear. I found him and held him straight away. I didn't trip over
my pants and I didn't knock into anything until I had him in my
arms.

But then I had to find hte light switch with Cary clutching me in
a death grip, all the while with my ankles tied up in jeans and
undies, my bare arse in need of a good clean, and with the horrid
knowledge that a) public restrooms are not particularly clean at
any point and b) I'm going to have to do all of this by *feel*.

It was not a pleasant nor painless process, but I did manage to
eventually find the light switch, then calm Cary down, and then
finish off what I had started.

I dread to think what woudl have happened if there was a blackout
and the lights couldn't have been turned back on *and* I was
genuinely physically disabled. Not even an emergency light int
here or those glow in the dark stickers to point to the exit. The
management to whom I complained were less than sympathetic, all
the could say was that I should have supervised my child better,
although I personally think they were in breach of some sort of
building regulation by not having emergency lighting or the glow
in the dark signs..

Needless to say, we don't shop there any more.

Yowie


And what will be their reaction when the light bulb burns out and
someone is actually injured? Even those horrid toilets at gas
stations have a bit of light that leaks in around the doors.

Jo

"Yowie" wrote in message
Suggestion: bring a small flashlight and keep it in your purse.
Even
if you never go into that mall again, you might encounter a
lightless
bathroom somewhere else.

Nah, I need a bat belt with all the tools of the motherhood trade.
Wipes, spare clothes, bandaids, drink, small toy (for distraction
in boring situations), spare clothes, tissues, kiddy tylenol,
mobile phone, keys, earplugs, emergency sewing kit, torch,
screwdriver/nail file, sticky tape, sunnies, etc etc

or, in other words, a giant and unfashionable tote bag where all
that sort of stuff along with a mysterious sock, some fluff
covered candy, hair pins, ex-tissues, small change, an old and out
of fashion half melted lipstic, a few tampons etc etc all sit in
the bottom and jingle

Yowie

I have a tiny flashlight attached to the zipper on my purse. Not
sure I would even remember its there in an emergency.

My sister and I and hubbies and grandkids were at the zoo when my
middle grandson got sick and threw up. As I'm getting wipes out of
my purse to clean him up, she reaches into hers and pulls out an
entire roll of toilet paper.

Told her she wins prepared grandma of the year hands down.

(They go camping a lot and often at campgrounds the facilities are
bring your own supplies)

Jo

Yowie wrote:

wrote:

Suggestion: bring a small flashlight and keep it in your purse. Even
if you never go into that mall again, you might encounter a lightless
bathroom somewhere else.

Nah, I need a bat belt with all the tools of the motherhood trade. Wipes,
spare clothes, bandaids, drink, small toy (for distraction in boring
situations), spare clothes, tissues, kiddy tylenol, mobile phone, keys,
earplugs, emergency sewing kit, torch, screwdriver/nail file, sticky tape,
sunnies, etc etc

or, in other words, a giant and unfashionable tote bag where all that sort
of stuff along with a mysterious sock, some fluff covered candy, hair pins,
ex-tissues, small change, an old and out of fashion half melted lipstic, a
few tampons etc etc all sit in the bottom and jingle

In other words, the one you already have?

Joyce
--
Taxes: Money you complain about giving the government, to pay for
services whose absence you would complain about.
-- John O'Hanlon

Yowie wrote:
In ,
Stormmee typed:
yes you can explain most components of it, because you know there are
colors something you can't acess, and something i learned before i
lost all of mine, the biggest abuse of blind people in an every day
living sort of way is the fact that public restrooms MUST be
accessable for wheelchair people, but they don't do things like make
the paper rolls be in the same place in the stalls, not just restroom
to restroom but in different stalls in the same restroom. and the
towel racks/soap dispensers and hand dryers are everywhere at
differing hieights, its very easy to understand and explain to those
who can see how disconcerting and physically painful it is when you
can't find or run into the towel dispenser... Lee

Can appreciate where you are coming from.

Most toilets in shopping malls are internal, that is, have no windows.

And if I am with the Yowlet I usually use th disabled toilet if there's no
"parent's room" because he now refuses to come into the women's toilet with
me (where is he going to wait?), and I don't like the idea of him going into
the men's without supervision. (Its both a matter of wanting him to be safe
*and* not wanting him to get into mischeif).

So there I am, pants around the ankles, doing what I had to do, with Cary
poking and prodding at anything and everything, when all a sudden he flips
the switch for the lights.

It is now pitch black.

He immediately screams and freaks out.

I tell him to turn the lights back on, but its too late. He's too scared to
know where the light switch was.

Of course, there's a problem. My pants are around my ankles, I am in
desperate need for a good application of TP, I can't see a damn thing, and
my child - who I can't see - is hysterical.

There is literally *no* light. None. There was nothing for my eyes to get
adjusted to. It was black and it was going to stay black.

Mothers can do miracles when their kids are screaming in mortal fear. I
found him and held him straight away. I didn't trip over my pants and I
didn't knock into anything until I had him in my arms.

But then I had to find hte light switch with Cary clutching me in a death
grip, all the while with my ankles tied up in jeans and undies, my bare
arse in need of a good clean, and with the horrid knowledge that a) public
restrooms are not particularly clean at any point and b) I'm going to have
to do all of this by *feel*.

It was not a pleasant nor painless process, but I did manage to eventually
find the light switch, then calm Cary down, and then finish off what I had
started.

I dread to think what woudl have happened if there was a blackout and the
lights couldn't have been turned back on *and* I was genuinely physically
disabled. Not even an emergency light int here or those glow in the dark
stickers to point to the exit. The management to whom I complained were less
than sympathetic, all the could say was that I should have supervised my
child better, although I personally think they were in breach of some sort
of building regulation by not having emergency lighting or the glow in the
dark signs..

Needless to say, we don't shop there any more.

Yowie


Most public toilets in the UK have key switches for the lighting so , in
theory, only the staff can operate them.

--
Adrian (Owned by Bagheera & Shadow)
Cats leave pawprints on your heart
http://community.webshots.com/user/clowderuk